Being a burned out teacher is hard but being a burned out teacher with a disability presents unique challenges to face every day. We all know that teachers give so much of themselves to their teaching so it’s especially important for teachers with disabilities to set and hold boundaries in order to take care of themselves.

In this episode, we get to chat with Hayley Spira-Bauer about her experiences teaching with disabilities and how she navigated the two in tandem. She is sharing how she experienced burnout while teaching and the need for self-advocacy among teachers who often feel pressured to meet their students' needs while neglecting their own. We’re also looking at how teacher vacancies impact overall teacher well-being and how she is still making an impact on students and teachers through her current role.

Hayley Spira-Bauer is the Chief Operating Officer of Fullmind as well as a New York State certified teacher. She spent the tenure of her teaching career in brick and mortar schools in New York City, working in a public school in the South Bronx and and then a charter school in Harlem for a decade. She has been with Fullmind for seven years doing equity-based work around the United States, supplying state-certified teachers to schools to solve various pain points and is currently the Chief Operating Officer/Chief Academic Officer. Hayley is very, very deeply committed to leaving this world a better way than when she came into it.

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Interview_ Hayley

Hayley: Oh my goodness, Brittany. Thank you so much for having me.

Brittany: Yeah. It's such a pleasure to talk to another person who is as passionate about educators as I am. So I would love, I gave a little introduction to you prior to recording, but I would love for you to just kind of introduce yourself to the audience and let them know a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Sure.

Hayley: My name is Haley Speerbauer. I am the chief operating officer of Full Mind. I am also a New York State certified teacher and spent the tenure of my career in brick and mortar schools in New York City, working in a public school in the South Bronx and then a charter school in Harlem for a decade where I taught.

Uh, in New York state, and I am very, very deeply committed to leaving this world a better, a better way than I found it and how I came into it. So leaving it better than how it was when I was born and everything I do is surrounding that concept.

Brittany: I love that. I love that so much because I think as teachers, we get into the profession to make a difference and knowing some teachers will think, Oh, well, when you leave the profession, you don't get to experience that anymore.

You don't get to make the world a better place or, you know, in your communities and outside of the classroom. And you're just like proof that you can still do that. So I love that so much. Um, so Haley, you are, you mentioned, um, In kind of chatting with you earlier, um, you're about your, let me scratch that.

Hayley: Yeah, that's a wonderful question. I, so I began my teach my teaching career as a core member with teach for America.

And I taught at PSRC. PS 55 in the South Bronx under the leadership of Luis Torres, who is still the principal there and doing incredible work. It was really challenging. Um, my, my training experience to become a teacher was short. I got an emergency certification. I felt super under prepared and the only thing that helped me through it was mentorship.

So there was a woman, her name is Jessica Sherman. She's still in education. Um, and she took me under her wing and supported me to ensure that I. didn't fail myself and didn't fail my students. Beyond that, mentorship then became a central role for me about how I could also support the next generation of teachers.

I have a whole bunch of autoimmune diseases that impact my daily life. I have at different phases throughout my life, been incredibly ill. Other times been incredibly healthy, but there are two things that really come into play that determine how I feel on a daily basis. The first is how much stress I have in my life.

And the second is how much sleep I get. Um, and some folks know that charter schools have really different schedules than public schools. Um, so I was at the school earlier and staying later, and I was on my feet and on with children for extended amount of time. And what I learned very quickly is that one.

So burnout for me at that time was different than I think we We really wrap our heads around when we think about teacher burnout. And so many people have disabilities. Sometimes they're visible. Sometimes they're invisible. Um, and self advocacy was the way that I learned I needed to set some boundaries and hold those boundaries so that I could sustain

Brittany: doing what I loved, which was teaching.

Yeah. I, you know, you mentioned that about having a disability and I think so often there, there's still that stigma around having a disability that, um, Sometimes there are those that we can't always see, like anxiety and depression and things of that nature, but then also these autoimmune diseases. And I don't know how much you've read into it, but like, I've read into a book called, um, The body keeps the score.

And teaching is not always sustainable in that way. Um, have you read anything about, um, like how trauma is stored in the body and stuff like that?

Hayley: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. The book you reference is a touchstone right now on this topic. And I know it to be true for my own anecdotal experience. Um, even in my life now, I, you know, I have two little kids and they know, like if mom is not sleeping for some reason or another, that might mean that mom needs to rest more the next couple of days to, to kind of catch up.

I don't remember any differently, but in teaching, you really have to give your whole health, whole self to other people on a regular basis. And that's really difficult. And that is what leads to burnout.

Brittany: Yeah. So you mentioned that you had to do a lot of self advocacy. What are some of the things that you might would tell somebody who might be dealing with um, a disability and might need to, you know, set some boundaries or something like that?

Like what kinds of ways might, um, a teacher with a disability advocate for themselves?

Hayley: I was

Brittany: working

Hayley: on the fourth floor at the time and the lunchroom was, or maybe it was the third floor and the lunchroom was in the basement and going up and down four flights of stairs two extra times a day, one to get the kids from breakfast duty and one to get them from lunch duty just wasn't possible.

Or maybe I had been receiving advocacy through my family, like through my parents who had instilled had been doing it for me. Um, I don't know. I, I was the first time I remember thinking, oh yeah. Like I would give a student an accommodation. Why wouldn't I give myself an accommodation? Um, that was one example of it.

And that was hard because when you're a teacher and you stop doing that, you feel like you're failing your kids. So I had to develop some new mindsets around that as well.

Brittany: Yeah, yeah. I think those are some of the just hearing some of those things. It's like the things, you know, you should do, but then you don't always do until somebody else mentions.

That's what worked for me. And they're like, okay, let me let me try that again. Let me try again and recognize I'm a human that has needs and wants and. Sometimes I have to do things that maybe are a little bit uncomfortable in the moment just to make sure that I can sustain my career long term. Um, so you, we talk a little bit, we talked a little bit about your experience in the classroom.

Hayley: Uh, yeah, that's absolutely something I think about often. And I'm really, I'm really wary to give advice to people still in schools. One, I didn't teach during the pandemic and I wasn't leading during the pandemic. So that is a whole other animal of trauma and experience that I have never had. And to the post pandemic world, even I can see it in my own children who didn't attend school for two years, almost because I am immunocompromised and we kept them home.

Um, that's a, that's a whole different beast as well. So I will tell you that I am very wary to give advice to people in schools. That's something I think, you know, I've been removed from buildings for nearly eight years now, and I haven't talked through some of the most difficult times of teaching that have ever existed.

We grew up out here on Long Island and our parents live out here and raising a child is very difficult. And so we wanted to be near family and the commute into the city where I had spent my whole career of tenure in schools was too long. Um, and I had the opportunity to interview for quite a few roles and have a choice before me, but I was intrigued by what Full Mind, which was then known as iTutor was doing.

Um, we are working in hundreds of schools across the U. S. And we are really providing a needed service for schools that span all sorts of, uh, crisis and pain points for the districts themselves. And so I felt like my ability to expand the impact I was having and continue work focused on educational equity was unparalleled.

And so it is very different work than working in a building. Um, but to me it is important work and it's work that I'm proud to do every day.

Brittany: Yeah, I mean, when you're doing things to support schools and districts and teachers, like you see that ripple down. And even if you're not actively in the classroom, like right now, I'm not actively in the classroom.

But at the same time, how much of an, how much can we possibly give, you know, how can we continue to support in different ways and be a teacher at the same time? And I don't think that lots of people will think of that. They don't think, oh, well, who does that work? Well, it's got to be somebody. And. Why not somebody who has also been in the classroom, who has also been on the other side of that as well.

Can you talk a little bit more about that?

Hayley: Yeah, well, I think. Just going to the central thesis of your podcast, your podcast is focused on teacher burnout and what causes more burnout than a school who has not simply had enough teachers recruited for the, for the calendar year. You have, let's say a math department that's missing two teachers.

Well, who does that stress trickle down onto? It trickles down onto the peers in the building. And so. One, you know, just connecting my work with your podcast and the theme of your podcast. One thing that's really impactful is when you fill a staff with certified teachers. whether they be in person or remote, you allow your in person teachers to focus on doing their work, doing their best work and not being inundated with extra responsibilities to cover for the lapse in being fully staffed.

com, you'll see it right on the homepage. One of our partners in South Carolina, Allendale, used full mind to support the crisis and the full mind teachers score had the highest score improvement in the entire district. Wow. Some of my colleagues over at full mind had such a profound impact, not just on solving this issue for their teacher staff and their, their, their You know, education staff, but also in moving the students forward academically, our goal is always to, uh, at least match what the teachers in the district are doing, whether or not this teachers in person or virtual the students deserve that excellent education and the geography of their school shouldn't determine [00:15:00] whether or not there's a teacher in every classroom.

And sometimes that's just a fact.

Brittany: Yeah, that's funny. Um, I live in South Carolina, um, and I didn't tell you that, but, um, I, I know about Allendale and the, the lack of teachers that are just in, in South Carolina in general, the, the vacancies are, are really, are alarming, um, but it's also very, you know, concerning for our other educators out there who are still in the building and having to make up for, you know, the lack of support that they have, you know, with other educators, you know?

Can you talk a little bit about like, Um, what, what's the current state? Like, what are we looking at when it comes to teacher burnout? I talk about

Hayley: this a lot on my podcast, the Learning Can't Wait podcast, but we have teachers are underpaid. Yeah. And there are pockets that, you know, Ed Week will touch on a school that's doing great by their teachers and they've secured additional 10 K for their teachers.

And so the fact that we don't pay our teachers accordingly, and we don't recognize the work that they do as worthy of high compensation is alarming.

Brittany: Yeah, I agree. I mean, I, it, when I think about some of the reasons why I made the podcast to begin with, I started sharing things on social media. Some of that was I needed, I needed a way to be creative, right?

Like even, you know, like as a single mom, when I, when I had my two daughters, when I was a single mom, absolutely did not have enough money. Then when my husband and I got married, we have five kids. And it's like, what? What do we do to get our kids in soccer or, you know, cheerleading or whatever it is.

There's not. There's just never enough money as a teacher. And it's alarming that, you know, the teachers who have multiple degrees, like I have my master's degree and my bachelor's degree, how can I not afford to live my life? You know?

I mean. There were a whole bunch of stories in the, during the pandemic when there was a short glimpse, short glimmer of time where folks were really recognizing the power of teachers. Parents suddenly had to teach their kids and they were like, wow, this is really challenging. And of course it's challenging.

Uh, and then they, there was a moment where we were all like, wow, teachers are incredible. We should revere them. But how quickly we forget. And we've gone back to times where teachers, I think are underpaid for the work that they do. And simply no other profession that has such an impact on someone's wellbeing on a regular basis is undervalued in this way.

Do I think that teachers absolutely should continue to advocate for better working conditions and pay? 100, 000%. But at the end of the day, if you love what you do, then it's okay to make the decision to stay in the classroom. And it's also okay to, to leave if it's time. Um, and so I always want to say that because I know that there's a teacher out there who's like, she's, she gets it, but she doesn't get it, you know, and I want teachers to know that if that's okay, whichever decision they decide to make, and we can advocate, we can continue to advocate.

Hayley: It's a value. It's a valid point. And. You know, this world is made up of all sorts of important roles and positions that impact children's lives.

And so, if teachers decide to move onward, and they can continue to use their skill set to improve the educational outcomes of various types of learners. I think that that's incredible.

Brittany: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Um, Haley, I know that we've, we've, we've gone all around here with, um, we've talked about your teaching experience, your teaching and leading with a disability, um, which I think is going to impact some of the listeners here who are like, Somebody gets it.

Can you talk a little bit about that as well? Yeah, of course. So first of all, you can hear way too much

Hayley: of my voice over on the podcast. Um, learning can't wait. You can download it on just about any site. You typically listen to podcasts, including teaching mind, body, and soul. Um, and you can also find it at full mind, learning.

com slash podcast. You can hear a lot of my thoughts. Also, if you follow me on LinkedIn, um, it's Haley Spear of our, and there's a hyphen in the middle. But you can also hear me speaking at events and conferences, such as at EdTechWeek. So at EdTechWeek this year, I'll be talking with a bunch of school leaders about, um, EdTech adoption, as well as, uh, the importance of equity work centering how we do, how we do education and all the people that surround education.

And when we do that, it makes it feel for others, like it should be shunned. And I'm in a position of privilege and power at my job, and so I tend to be outspoken about this topic. Um, I also get a ton of inspiration from other people who do that. I remember recently. You know, following a couple of parts of Selma Blair's journey, um, her condition and she's outspoken about having a disability and I reflected and I thought, well, I don't have a visible disability.

So I have no problem talking about that. I also am, as I said before, I'm quite outspoken about some of the ways I think our system is flawed and broken and ways that we can improve it. Um, this is. This is my life's work, so I, I get very passionate and very excited every opportunity that I have to talk about.

Brittany: Yes, and I'm so glad that you really, that you are talking, um, about these difficult topics to discuss, um, and just really bringing that to the forefront. Um, Haley, I'm going to put all the links down in the show notes for, um, teachers to go and follow you, to learn more about you, learn more about Full Mind, um, and just learn more about your, your work.

Um, is there any advice that you would give to a teacher, um, just to kind of wrap things up. A teacher who is dealing with a disability that maybe, you know, their teammates don't know about, um, their school might not know about. What advice would you give to that teacher about avoiding burnout this school year?

When you are going through a crisis, personal crisis, or you have a disability is so important. People with disabilities are co indicated to have multiple Uh, excuse me, a bigger increase of mental health needs, uh, and going through something alone can be incredibly difficult to process. If therapy or some sort of mental health support is not an option, find somebody, find anybody.

And so when teaching is really hard, it can be wonderful to have supportive friends or family or acquaintances who maybe don't understand every aspect of your life, but are willing to listen. Yeah. The rest of it, I mean, being a teacher is important work and. It's funny. Your question is almost exactly the same as I asked on my podcast and it's the last question I've heard brilliant answers through the years.

Um, but you, my mom was a flight attendant and you can't save others until you save yourself. You have to put your oxygen mask on first. And I know a lot of people say that, but it's so true and it's an adage that I've lived by my whole life. So. That is, that is my statement for a teacher that you guys give.

And we have the resilient teacher community on Facebook. It's completely free. You can come and join us, talk, find friends, network, that sort of thing. Um, because I never want a teacher to feel alone or like there isn't somebody there to support you. So we do have that large community over there. Um, you can find that at teaching mind, body and soul.

com slash support squad. Um, that is there for you. No matter who you've got in your life right now, you can find somebody there. Um, thank you again, Haley, for being a part of this and for just sharing your journey and your life's work with us. Um, it was such a pleasure.

Hayley: Righty. It was such a pleasure to meet you.

And I'm excited to connect in person at tech week this year.

Brittany: Yes, me too. I'm excited.